BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand is expecting at least five million Chinese tourist arrivals this year, about half the number recorded before the coronavirus pandemic, as China reopens its borders, the government tourism body said on Tuesday.
The return of Chinese tourists would be a further boost to Southeast Asian country’s economy and its vital tourism sector. More than 11 million Chinese tourists visited Thailand in 2019, nearly a third of the total.
We expect some 300,000 Chinese tourists to come in the first quarter of this year,” Yuthasak Supasorn, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, told Reuters. That compared with 220,000 in the first 11 months of 2022.
The government is now targeting a total of 25 million foreign tourist arrivals in 2023, up from 20 million earlier projected, said government spokesman Anucha Burapachaisri.
Some are less optimistic about Chinese…
